Intentions to Marry, 1907 Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840435, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1907 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1907a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1907b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1907c).

Page 210

District of Lyttelton Quarter ending 31 December 1907 Registrar William Dryburgh Wallace

Date of Notice

Names and Surnames of Parties

BDM Match

Condition

Calling or Profession

Age

Dwelling Place

Length of Residence

Marriage Place

Folio

Consent

Date of Certificate

Officiating Minister

1 October 1907

William Dryburgh Wallace
Ellen Dorothea May Schmiet

William Dryburgh Wallace
Ellen Dorathea May Schmidt
💍 1907/7710

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil servant

27
25

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

3 years
5 years

Holy Trinity Church

07/7579

1 October 1907

Rev. B. Coates, Anglican, Lyttelton

No	36
Date of Notice	1 October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Dryburgh Wallace	Ellen Dorothea May Schmiet
BDM Match (96%)	William Dryburgh Wallace	Ellen Dorathea May Schmidt
	💍 1907/7710
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil servant
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	3 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church
Folio	07/7579
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. Coates, Anglican, Lyttelton

7 October 1907

Edward William Cyril Thomas
Emily Mary Mitchell

Edward William Cyril Thomas
Emily Mary Mitchell
💍 1907/7719

Bachelor
Spinster

Billiard-marker

27
20

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

19 months
20 years

The office of the Registrar of Marriages

07/7582

Thomas John Mitchell, father

7 October 1907

Claude Ferries, Deputy Registrar, Lyttelton

No	37
Date of Notice	7 October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward William Cyril Thomas	Emily Mary Mitchell
	💍 1907/7719
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Billiard-marker
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	19 months	20 years
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	07/7582
Consent	Thomas John Mitchell, father
Date of Certificate	7 October 1907
Officiating Minister	Claude Ferries, Deputy Registrar, Lyttelton

31 October 1907

Frederick Graf
Mary Frances Halmshaw

Frederick Graf
Mary Frances Halinshaw
💍 1907/6804

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

28
31

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

5 days
4 years

St. Saviour's Church, West Lyttelton

07/8124

31 October 1907

Rev. E. C. Chambers, Anglican, Lyttelton

No	38
Date of Notice	31 October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Graf	Mary Frances Halmshaw
BDM Match (95%)	Frederick Graf	Mary Frances Halinshaw
	💍 1907/6804
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	28	31
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	5 days	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Saviour's Church, West Lyttelton
Folio	07/8124
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 October 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. C. Chambers, Anglican, Lyttelton

4 November 1907

John Herman Brassy
Josephine Doyle

John Herman Brassy
Josephine Doyle
💍 1907/7720

Bachelor
Spinster

Barman
Housemaid

38
35

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

4 years
5 months

The office of the Registrar of Marriages

07/7583

7 November 1907

W. D. Wallace, Registrar of Marriages, Lyttelton

No	39
Date of Notice	4 November 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Herman Brassy	Josephine Doyle
	💍 1907/7720
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barman	Housemaid
Age	38	35
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	4 years	5 months
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	07/7583
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 November 1907
Officiating Minister	W. D. Wallace, Registrar of Marriages, Lyttelton

11 November 1907

Albert Edward Beazer
Henrietta Luke

Albert Edward Beazer
Henrietta Luke
💍 1907/7718

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver

29
27

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

3 days
27 years

The Methodist Church, Lyttelton

07/7581

11 November 1907

Rev. Alfred Peters, Methodist, Lyttelton

No	40
Date of Notice	11 November 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edward Beazer	Henrietta Luke
	💍 1907/7718
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	3 days	27 years
Marriage Place	The Methodist Church, Lyttelton
Folio	07/7581
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 November 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alfred Peters, Methodist, Lyttelton

22 November 1907

Arthur Samuel Wakelin
Evangeline Charlotte Louisa Newbery

Arthur Samuel Wakelin
Evangeline Charlotte Louisa Newbery
💍 1907/7699

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairyman

20
23

Lyttelton
Governor's Bay

20 years
One week

Anglican Church Govenor's Bay

07/7578

Richard Wakelin, Father

22 November 1907

Rev. P. H. Pritchett, Anglican

No	41
Date of Notice	22 November 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Samuel Wakelin	Evangeline Charlotte Louisa Newbery
	💍 1907/7699
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairyman
Age	20	23
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Governor's Bay
Length of Residence	20 years	One week
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Govenor's Bay
Folio	07/7578
Consent	Richard Wakelin, Father
Date of Certificate	22 November 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. H. Pritchett, Anglican

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1908. More registers are being added almost every week.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).